YOU MIGHT have seen David Gray's face around the Jacaranda Festival this year, or maybe you heard his voice?

Mr Gray has been playing music since he was young, and this year, he won the Jacaranda Busking Competition for his long, hard days of busking at the festival.

"It was a totally awesome experience because life is a bit of a journey - to where I've been and where I've come from, has been a challenge - it's been a long road for me," he said.

About 12 years ago, Mr Gray was crushed by a concrete slab while he was renovating his mother's house. Now he's recovered, he concentrates on his music and art.

"To be able to play music and be healthy and experience that with everybody in Grafton, people in general, and make people smile and see that awesomeness on their faces (was amazing).

"I keep myself busy with all my stuff I love in my life, my family, my mum - who I love dearly - she's a singer too, she plays for the elderly people in the nursing homes. She's 84 and sings three times a week."

Mr Gray started busking last Saturday and right through the Jacaranda Festival, doing four- to six-hour days.

"I finished up on Saturday for a session down at the riverbank. They told me I'd won and I had to play in front of all of Grafton," he said.

"I was playing on the big stage and it was awesome, and I want to do that again.

"So there is going to be a bit more of me out there (playing), because there is a little bit more to David Gray than people realise."

His prize for winning the Jacaranda Busking Competition was a Tanglewood Java acoustic/electric guitar from Buckley's Music.